There’s a vast difference between knowing and being able to show other people that you do, and this is the chasm that divides the articulate from the rest. Among the former, there are some who are masters of the written word, others who have excellent oratory skills and wow people with the gift of the gab, and some who are blessed enough to be able to do both.

While writing is a flair that comes from within, there are certain aspects to it that can be taught, like ways to organize your thoughts and put them down coherently so that they read well. A thousand ideas may be clamoring in your head screaming for release, but if you’re not able to provide them with some form of order, they lose every bit of their value and become equal to indecipherable gibberish. Similarly, you may know your subject well, but if you’re not able to put down what you know in an essay in such a way that your reader is captivated from start to finish, you might as well have not known anything at all.

Organizing an essay is easy enough if you go about it in a systematic manner. All essays begin with an introduction, end with a conclusion, and contain two to three paragraphs in between. Here are a few golden rules to be followed when framing your essay:

•    Open Strongly: Enough cannot be said about the importance of a good introduction. Well begun is half done, to use an oft-repeated cliche. Since your reader will more likely than not form an opinion of your essay with the first few words that you’ve written, you must make sure you hold their attention and make them want to read more. An introduction is a preview to what they can expect to follow in the paragraphs below; it creates anticipation, so it must be teasing, revealing enough but not telling all, and gently egging on the reader to move forward and read the rest of your essay.
•    Put ideas where they belong: Your middle paragraphs tell the whole story of your essay, the theme that you’ve focused on. It’s best to organize this part into two or three separate paragraphs, depending on the topic you’re writing about. Make sure that you don’t mix your ideas and strew them all over the body of the essay. Before you put your thoughts down on paper, draw a rough outline map where you name sections and write each idea under the category it belongs to. This way, you know that all your ideas are down on paper, exactly in the sections they belong, and you don’t have to redo any part of your essay when you realize you’ve forgotten an important aspect.
•    End Conclusively: A conclusion must sum up the points you’ve made throughout your essay and finish on either a conclusive note or leave a theoretical question hanging for the reader, depending on the relevance of the topic. It’s best not to leave threads hanging from the paragraphs above, and the conclusion is the best place to tie them all up to make sense.
•    Check thoroughly: Even the best of us makes mistakes, so it’s best to read your essay once or twice, making corrections where they’re needed and tweaking your language a bit. Ask a friend to run their eyes over it too, just to be on the safe side.
•    Follow instructions: If you have a word limit, adhere to it. Generally though, you’re better off not writing long-winded stories or putting down your each and every thought on paper. Keep it short and sweet, and you’re likely to see good results.

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of online colleges and universities. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com

Posted in Essay Tagged: Essay, essay writing, organizing essay

Telling lies, which literally means not telling the truth, is strongly associated with dishonesty. It seems to be antipathetic with human integrity. However, it is what happens around us all the time. Being asked “Did you have breakfast?”, you may perfunctorily utter a “Yes.” though your stomach is rumbling without any staff. Lies have become everywhere as oral tags. But do we really need so many lies? In my opinion, life cannot be so charming without lies.

Basically, telling lies can assist the afflicted to handle difficulties in a more hopeful way. For an incurable patient, what is the meaning to tell her or him the truth? Instead of putting out the fire of passion for life, consolations like “It doesn’t matter. You will soon be OK.” with a confident smile will kindle the extinct heart to hopefully head for a better stage that will definitely not appear when the truth is haunting around. Where truth cannot help, lies step in to build a leading, directing and encouraging image. To this extent, telling lies is a psychological process of self-consummation. By the guidance of beautiful lies, a vivid vision can easily occupy the mind thus excluding the distracting elements.

Further more, many forms of lies are applied in nearly all walks of life while people regard them as intelligent. Will you always tell your opponent politicians what you are striving to achieve in a campaign? Will you reveal what ideas you have come up with to your rival in the bidding for a center building? Will you disclose your plans to your enemy during the liberation war? You may tell the opposite in order to obtain success. In all these fields, lies, in the names of strategy, measure or means, are told. But what happens after is not as expected; people will not scold these dishonest. Instead they admire the lie-teller’s intelligence. A war strategy, a campaign measure or a competition method can be remembered and reused for generations and bring the motherland integrity, the avoidance of exploiting government or the establishment of a world famous enterprise.

As stated above, telling lies can be both helpful to the life-end travelers and to build wonderful lives. But lies abusing is far beyond tolerance. Before telling lies, we should ask ourselves whether this practice can really do good. If lies and truth both serve for this principle, what is the difference to tell either of them?

Posted in Essay

Criticism, the First Step to Improve

Article from reader yingooee@163.com

With the socialist modernization, evaluation system has been introduced to nearly all walks of life. So it does happen to the education field. On line appraisal, traditional written form, face to face interview and all other modus operandi have gained their access to students to help evaluating teachers. Then here comes the question whether this evaluating method can really create the anticipated effects to optimize teachers and finally optimize the education process. The following advantages of this practice can give a clear “yes” to the question.

First and foremost, students’ evaluation and criticism, to a certain extent, can reflect how the education process is going on. Students are the direct receiver of education process. Therefore in order to make an overall appraisal of the process of teaching and learning, it is necessary to count these direct effect receivers in. Teacher-appraisals can not only bring good to the teachers, but also be beneficial to students in return. No matter in which form the reflection is carried out, it will inevitably indicate what the students need, whether their teachers are qualified to meet all those needs and whether the way of teaching can be acceptable and easily enough to access students as long as students taking part in are in large number. Regular evaluations, say, once in a term, show what teachers need to improve, which help to push them to be on the way to a better teacher-student interactive relationship. On the other hand, much more satisfied with the adjustments teachers made, students will be more likely to be fully devoted in study.

Secondly, evaluation and criticism constitute the core portion of education. Evaluating and criticizing is different from complaining which means continuously expressing the unsatisfactory facets that occur in education. It means more than just expressing. It calls for critical thinking to differentiate facets coming from teachers that can be changed from those of themselves and those cannot be improved; it requires students to think a second thought before clicking, writing or speaking, which can neither be well practiced in the class environment. What is working and exercising during the process is the elemental method for progress teachers of generations have been striving to instill in students’ minds.

With the points mentioned above, students’ appraisal for teachers can be both beneficial to either part for its progressive outcomes. However, abuse of the evaluation system is still looming large. Occurrence of loss of respect and discipline in the classroom is calling for much attention. To avoid this, a comprehensive regulation system and before-hand instructions should be applied. All in all, human can never be perfect and to evaluate is the first step to improve.

by yingooee@163.com

Write to get in touch with your family members or friends as was done years ago? For most teenagers and youngsters less than 30 years old, letters from or to friends mean out-of-date. In stead, they prefer to send text messages or chat on the internet. This arouses a heated discussion on whether writing skill will be taken place by the advancing technology. To me, writing will not be left out of human practice in the human process of seeking improvement. Three reasons can explain why I insist that writing will not be completely taken place of.

For one thing, although a variety of new ways of recording and communicating have become familiar to most people, writing, as a human practice, will definitely become a higher level of enjoyment of life. What existed before human being could avail themselves of the blessing of writing on paper? Take carving as an example. Does it completely disappear? No. Carving was invented by our ancestors and is now still enjoyed by men purchasing their own happy lives by take it as an interest. This will also happen to writing skill. It can be calligraphy for personal appreciation; it can be an art for raising funds so as to help those in badly need; it can be a sacred place in the heart to share.

For another, writing can be fully used as a means to show personal information. The way a person writes a Chinese character can be analyzed in relation to his or her character. The cleanness and neatness of a hand written letter indicates the recipient that he is valued while a text message or a transformed e-mail from others does not have such effect. As the society put more emphasis on individualism while the sameness of typed and copied pages cannot live up to it, more people will stick to writing.

What is more, e-document cannot meet the security demand of all fields that need legally effective documents. So written signature will still be used as the main means to gain legal effectiveness. Some may argue that digital signature has already been put into use through the interne. However, the high frequency internet tech crime brings about more security problems, which deterrents most merchants to insist on the traditional way.

To sum up, that writing skill will completely disappear is not going to happen. What is going to happen is that it will be used in another more appropriate way.

It’s not something any graduate would look forward to, but unpleasant as it is, it’s a task that has to be done. Repaying a student loan is a daunting and uphill task, especially if you don’t have a job lined up and are unsure of how to go about the process in the most efficient way. If you’re not shrewd and determined to pay back the money you borrowed at the earliest, you’re bound to face a lifetime of debt that keeps adding up because of the interest.

Of course, the repayment decision is that much easier if you’ve been sensible when applying for the loan and locked in your rates or settled for a Federal loan which has a much lower interest rate than loans from alternative or private lenders. If you’re a fresh graduate looking at insurmountable odds as you try to repay your loan, here are some pointers to guide you through the process:

• Use your six-month grace period after leaving school to search for a job that will support you as you make your repayments.
• Once you secure a job, set aside a large portion of the money you make so you can pay back a larger amount each month when you start repayment in six months’ time. Just because you have six months at your disposal, there’s no need to be frivolous with your money.
• If you’ve borrowed from several lenders, make an organized list that will help you plan how much you owe each one every month, and when the amount is due.
• Pay back the entire amount due every month even if you do not receive a bill or alternative intimation.
• Make sure you understand the terms of your loans; check with your lenders if you’re unsure.
• If you’re struggling to make monthly payments, look at loan consolidation as an option. Remember though, that by consolidating your loan, you’re going to be paying a smaller amount every month over a longer period of time. This effectively means that you’re going to be paying a much higher sum (because of the interest) than before, and that the repayment period is going to take many years more.
• If you have a mix of Federal and private loans, consolidate the Federal ones first. They usually come at lower interest rates and more favorable terms and will thus save you money in the long run.
• Talk to a loan counselor before you begin to consolidate your private loans.
• If you’re consolidating your loans within six months of graduating, remember that you forfeit the grace period and are supposed to start payments within 90 days of consolidation.
• Take lender fees and finance charges into account before you consolidate at lower interest rates.
• Once you find your feet and begin earning more, step up the payment amounts even though you’ve reached an agreement where you can pay a low figure each month. The more you pay, the more you save on interest paid and the faster you can get this debt written off your balance sheets.
• Make sure you inform your lender of any change in address, temporary or permanent.
• In extreme case, if you’re unable to pay back your loan, see if you qualify for a loan forgiveness program.

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of top accredited online university. She invites your questions and writing job opportunities at her personal email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.

ust in time for the college loan shopping season, which starts July 1, the Federal Trade Commission has posted a guide to avoid rip-offs.

One of the most important tips is to be very skeptical of any solicitation that looks like it is coming from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Education “does not send advertisements or mailers, or otherwise solicit consumers to borrow money. If you receive a student loan solicitation, it is not from ED,” the FTC warns. U.S. News documented some misleading loan ads here and, in partnership with Simple Tuition, offers a tool to help you compare student loan prices.

Facts for Consumers

Student Loans: Avoiding Deceptive Offers

A joint publication of the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Education

An education beyond high school is an investment in your future. It can be expensive and often requires you or your family to take out loans to help pay for it.

Student loans fall into two categories, federal loans and private loans.

• Federal loans, which are subject to oversight and regulation by the federal government, include:
  • Direct Loans, where the U.S. Department of Education is the lender;
  • Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL), where private lenders make loans backed by the federal government; and
  • Federal Perkins Loans.
• Private loans, sometimes referenced as “alternative loans,” are offered by private lenders and do not include the benefits and protections available with federal loans.

Whether you’re taking out a new student loan or consolidating existing education loans, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, and the U.S. Department of Education (ED), the agency that oversees federal student loans, want you to know how to spot potentially deceptive claims or business practices some private companies may use to get your loan business.

Private Loans

Private companies may offer you loans and other forms of financial assistance for your education. They often use direct mail marketing, telemarketing, television, radio, and online advertising to promote their products.

Paying for your education is a serious long-term financial obligation; that’s why comparing the costs of different ways of financing your education is so important. Private loans tend to have higher fees and interest rates than federal government loans. Private loans also do not offer the opportunities for cancellation or loan forgiveness that are available on many federal loan programs. So it makes good financial sense to exhaust your federal loan options (as well as grants and scholarships) before considering loans from any private companies. To learn more about federal government loans, visit www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov.

How to Spot Deceptive Private Student Loan Practices

If you are considering a private student loan, it’s important to know whom you’re doing business with and the terms of the loan. The FTC and ED offer these tips to help you recognize questionable claims and practices related to private student loans.

• Some private lenders and their marketers use names, seals, logos, or other representations similar to those of government agencies to create the false or misleading impression that they are part of or affiliated with the federal government and its student loan programs. ED does not send advertisements or mailers, or otherwise solicit consumers to borrow money. If you receive a student loan solicitation, it is not from ED.
• Don’t let promotions or incentives like gift cards, credit cards, and sweepstakes prizes divert you from assessing whether the key terms of the loan are reasonable.
• Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you know with whom you are dealing. Private student lenders typically ask for your student account number — often your Social Security number (SSN) or Personal Identification Number (PIN) — saying they need it to help determine your eligibility. However, because scam artists who purport to be private student lenders can misuse this information, it is critical to provide it or other personal information only if you have confidence in the private student lender with whom you are dealing.
• Check out the track record of particular private student lenders with your state Attorney General (www.naag.org), your local consumer protection agency (www.consumeraction.gov), and the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org).

Special Considerations for Consolidation of Federal Loans

Student loan consolidation is combining several loans into one with a new repayment term and interest rate. This is generally offered in connection with federal loans. Here’s how to help identify potential problems related to loan consolidation:

• Avoid lenders and marketers who use high-pressure sales tactics. Some marketers pitch that “your interest rates may go up if you do not consolidate immediately!” Whether and when interest rates for consolidating your loans will change depends on what type of loans you have. Look at your loan documents to determine whether the interest rates are fixed or variable:
  • If all of your education loans have fixed interest rates, there may be no deadline to consolidate.
  • If some or all of your loans have variable interest rates, when you consolidate into a fixed loan it may affect the interest rate of your loan. ED publishes new variable rates for some federal loans each July 1st. The annual rate changes can raise or lower the interest rate offered on a consolidated loan because the consolidation interest rate will be the weighted average of all loans consolidated.

Whether or not you have a targeted timeframe, take your time to determine whether consolidating is right for you.

• Some lenders impose restrictions on promised discounts. Some may disclose these limits only in the fine print. Read the fine print in your loan documents to find these types of conditions:
  • Some lenders lower the interest rate on your consolidated loan, but only if you opt for automated payments from your checking account.
  • Other lenders discount the interest rate on your consolidated loan, but only if your loan has at least a specified minimum loan balance.
  • Still others agree to lower the interest rate on your consolidated loan, but only if you remain current on your payments for the life of the loan. You may want to consider loans with more immediate discounts, a shorter on-time payment period for interest rate discounts, or an additional discount for signing up for automatic payments.
• Some lenders sell consolidated loans to other companies. Because benefits of consolidated loans — like promised discounts — may not transfer, you may lose benefits if the lender sells your loan. Ask the lender whether the terms of your loan will change if it is sold.
• Be cautious about consolidating federal loans and private loans into one private loan. The result of consolidating all loans into one non-federal private loan means that you lose all the benefits and protections provided in the federal loan programs.
• Consolidating a Perkins loan may not be in your best interest. You may lose unique deferment and cancellation rights available to Perkins loan borrowers. For more information about these rights go to http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DCS/perkins.deferment.cancellation.html.
• Frequent consolidation after borrowing may impact timelines you need to meet to qualify for these benefits.

For More Information or to File a Complaint

To learn about federal student loans, write the U.S. Department of Education at:
U.S. Department of Education
Federal Student Aid Information Center
P.O. Box 84
Washington, DC 20044-0084
800-4-FED-AID (TTY: 800-730-8913)
www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov

Notify the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman at 1-877-557-2575 or www.ombudsman.ed.gov if you have a complaint that you cannot resolve with your lender.

For questions about a particular lender, contact the federal agency with jurisdiction over that lender:

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency
Regulates banks with “national” in the name or “N.A.” after the name:
Office of the Ombudsman
Customer Assistance Group
1301 McKinney Street, Suite 3450
Houston, TX 77010
800-613-6743 toll-free
www.occ.treas.gov

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Regulates state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies, and branches of foreign banks:
Federal Reserve Consumer Help PO Box 1200
Minneapolis, MN 55480
888-851-1920 (TTY: 877-766-8533) toll-free
ConsumerHelp@FederalReserve.gov

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Regulates state-chartered banks that are not members of the Federal Reserve System:
Division of Supervision & Consumer Protection
550 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20429
877-ASK-FDIC (275-3342) toll-free
www.fdic.gov

National Credit Union Administration
Regulates federally chartered credit unions:
Office of Public and Congressional Affairs
1775 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-3428
703-518-6330
www.ncua.gov

Office of Thrift Supervision
Regulates federal savings and loan associations and federal savings banks:
Consumer Programs
1700 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20552
800-842-6929 toll-free
www.ots.treas.gov

Federal Trade Commission
Regulates non-bank lenders:
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
877-FTC-HELP (382-4357) toll-free
www.ftc.gov

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Federal Student Aid, an office of the U.S. Department of Education, administers the federal student financial aid — grants, loans, and work-study programs — available for education beyond high school. Federal Student Aid interacts with postsecondary schools, financial institutions and other participants in the student aid programs to deliver services that help students and families plan and pay for college.

To learn more about Federal Student Aid and how to pay for college, visit www.FederalStudentAid.ed.gov or call call 1-800-4-FED-AID.
The Federal Student Aid Ombudsman is available to individuals with specific complaints. To learn more about the Ombudsman, visit www.ombudsman.ed.gov or call 1-877-557-2575.

from http://www.usnews.com/

Besides organization, the other hallmark of a good paper is clarity in writing. Remember that if a paper fails to communicate well, then its research-no matter how well done–will have little impact. There is an old piece of advice that says, “write like you speak.” This is terrible advice, at least for formal papers. Good written communication is somewhat different from good spoken communication. When you speak to someone, especially face to face, you can convey meaning through voice inflection, gestures, and other methods in addition to your words. These methods are not available in written communications. Therefore, choice of words, punctuation, and other considerations are particularly vital when you write. Good writing can be divided into three parts: effort, style considerations, and technical matters.

Coursework Writing Service

Dissertation Writing Service

Effort: Thomas Alva Edison once supposedly commented that “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” That is true whether one is inventing the lightbulb or creating an essay, a report, or a book. Writing and polishing drafts of a paper take time and effort. They cannot be done the night before the paper is due. If you sit down at your word processor the night before your report is due and write it into the wee hours of the morning, you will almost certainly leave your reader as bleary-eyed when he or she reads the paper as you were when you wrote it. Two things to do are to write drafts and to get others to read your paper.

1. Write a draft, preferably more than one. No professional writer would dream of sending a manuscript out for review or to press without writing multiple drafts. Indeed, the more one writes, the more one feels the need to do drafts. Only undergraduates have the hubris to keyboard a paper into the computer, print a copy out, hand it in, and wait confidently for that rave review and an “A” grade from the instructor. A better idea is to write a first draft. Note here that the adjective “rough” does not precede “draft.” Your draft should be complete and carefully done. Once your smooth draft is done, put it aside for a few days so that you can gain perspective. Then reread it. You may be surprised at how many ways you find to improve what you have written when you look at it with “fresh eyes.” The same is true for your third and subsequent drafts.

2. Get help. There are many people who can help you write a first-rate paper. One person is your instructor. Discuss your topic and your ideas with your professor. He or she may be able to help you refine your topic, avoid pitfalls, identify resources, or plan the paper’s organization. Submit drafts to your professor far enough ahead of the deadline to give the instructor time to suggest revisions. It may prove helpful also to ask a classmate, a family member, or someone else to read your paper. Most people are not good judges of their own writing. We tend to read what we meant to say, not what we actually wrote. A fresh reader will be able to point out technical errors and lapses in your argument and organization. Writing centers are another source of help at many colleges and universities. You may have already paid for such assistance with your tuition dollars; you might as well use it.

Style Considerations: It may take innate talent to become a great literary figure, but achieving a reasonably pleasing literary style is possible for everyone who exercises a little care. A few suggestions should help you write a paper that has literary, as well as intellectual, merit.

1. Watch your sentence structure. Students and scholars too often seem to assume that long, complex sentences are symbolic of profundity. They are not; they are mostly just cumbersome. Simple, subject-verb-object sentences are best. They are powerful. Still, if you do not vary them occasionally, numerous short sentences do not “read” well. So, after several simple sentences, add a longer one. But do not go too far the other way. Consider “Rourke’s Rule of 2s”: “Sentences more than two lines long or with more than two commas are probably too long to be understood easily, especially if there have been two in a row.”

2. Rely on active tense, action verbs. Avoid the passive tense (No: “Politicians are disliked by many people.” Yes: “Many people dislike politicians.”). Similarly, action verbs (made, jumped, went) are better than verbs of being (is, are, were). In general, active/action verbs generate more interest.

3. Use standard English. Colloquial English typically does not make a good impression unless you are writing fiction. Obscenities and other forms of gutter English are almost never acceptable.

4. Avoid starting too many sentences with adverbial or adjectival clauses or phrases. These are the short phrases (such as “In the morning, we went…”) that are often followed by a comma. Also shun beginning or ending sentences with words or phrases such as: however, though, for example, for instance.

5. Watch your paragraph length. Paragraphs over one page in length are usually too long. They may contain redundant statements or more than one major idea. Rework such paragraphs to delete unnecessary text or to separate ideas into additional paragraphs. At the other extreme, one-sentence paragraphs are not acceptable. Remember that each paragraph should have a topic sentence and several others that explain or develop that topic.

6. Rely on transitions between paragraphs. Conventions like “On the other hand,” “Still,” “Also,” “Nevertheless,” “Thus,” “However,” or “As a result” help the reader get from one thought to another. They smooth the reading process.

7. Avoid clichés. “They fought like cats and dogs over which policy to adopt.” Ugh!

8. Get to the point. Do not beat around the bush; save a tree; avoid word pollution.

Technical Matters: Your paper must be free of common writing mistakes. Cautions about some of these are:

1. Avoid sentence fragments. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb.

2. Check your spelling. Misspelled words make you appear uneducated, careless, or both. Keep in mind that misspelled words and typographical errors cannot be distinguished from each other by a reader. Both are unacceptable. Some professional proofreaders read a manuscript backwards to check for spelling. Try it. Do not rely on just your own sense of how words are spelled. Use a dictionary, a “spell check” program if you have a computer, and a second reader to proofread your drafts. Beware of spell checkers, though! Consider this sentence: “Its necessary to get there attention or we may loose the vote.” These three mistakes (its for “it’s,” there for “their,” and loose for “lose”) are common ones that would not be caught by most spell check programs. Thus it is crucial to have a human scan your words.

3. Make sure subjects and verbs agree. Subject-verb disagreement is most likely to occur when the two are separated in the sentences by several other words.

4. Be careful of verb tense. Many poor writers use only present tense. Use past tense, future, and other tenses as appropriate. Also be careful to keep verb tense consistent within paragraphs.

5. Make pronouns mean what they say. Misuse of pronouns is very common. A pronoun refers to the last noun of the same person and gender. Consider the sentences, “John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was subsequently also shot and killed. Many Americans wept at his death.” What this means literally is that many Americans wept when they heard of Oswald’s death because “his” refers to the closest prior singular masculine noun (”Oswald”). Also, do not normally use pronouns more than twice in a row to refer to the same noun. Use the noun or a variation thereof again for clarity. While we are on the subject of pronouns, it is seldom correct to use a gender-specific pronoun (he, she, him, her) to refer to an inanimate object. The United States, for example, is an “it,” not a “she.”

6. Do not split infinitives. Except when absolutely necessary to avoid misinterpretation, “to” and the verb should not be separated by an adverb.

7. Avoid the use of contractions. Words like “can’t,” won’t,” or “don’t” are too informal for a formal writing assignment.

8. Be careful of abbreviations. Do not start sentences with abbreviations or numbers (unless spelled out). For countries, avoid using the abbreviation as a noun (No: The U.S. did…); but the abbreviation is acceptable as an adjective (Yes: Current U.S. foreign policy…). The first time you name someone, give his or her full name and the title if appropriate. Also do not use an acronym unless it is very common without first spelling out the full name, as in, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

9. Do not end sentences with prepositions. This rule is being relaxed, but repetitive use of prepositions at the end of sentences is indicative of poor sentence structure.

10. Know when and how to use specific punctuation. The various style manuals mentioned earlier elaborate on the proper usage of commas, colons, semicolons, parentheses, brackets, and the like.

Quality Education Sites -

Essay Writing ! Custom Essay Writing ! Buy Custom Essay

Dissertation - Dissertation writing help offered by expert writers! Our dissertations are custom written! No matter what is the topic of your dissertation, we can assist you!

Research Paper - MasterPapers learnt the article and mystery of writing a perfect research paper! This is why their custom writing services are the best in the industry. No matter what the top of you essay, research paper or dissertation, they can do it all!

Although I didn’t go to school with the intent of becoming a freelance writer, I did get my English degree so that I could pursue a career in writing.

After graduating, however, I realized that this would be a very difficult thing to accomplish. I applied to a number of small-time newspapers looking to get a job and even considered living homeless in downtown Vancouver and writing a book about my experiences.

My English degree taught me a lot about grammar, 20th Century Literature, poetry, and essays…but it didn’t teach me how to make money. It’s sad really, coming off the high of graduation and then facing the real world where people don’t care if you can write essays or not.

It was a major transition for me - one that led me to a sales job before finally taking a stand and deciding that I would do whatever it took to build a writing career for myself - and now I’m here to disclose the 10 things that I didn’t learn in university.

1. How to Write Cover Letters: You need to write a cover letter every time you bid on a project, contact a publisher, or send an email asking for work. I can’t believe they didn’t teach me how to do this in university. Oh sure, I knew how to write an email and introduce myself…but not effectively.
2. How to Find Work as a Writer: An English degree is great…for almost nothing. Most English majors take their degree and turn it into a masters or go into law. I considered those options, but felt I had done enough schooling already and wanted some experience. So I searched for a writing job high and low before finding out that I would have to create my own if I wanted to write for a living.
3. How to Self-Publish: I don’t know if this is a generalization or not, but it seems like most English departments are stuck in the past. Not only did I never learn how to create a blog or eBook while I was in university, but I never even knew those types of things existed.
4. How to Write for Businesses: Most English professors see writing as an art form and believe that business writing is watered down. I agree, but I also understand that business writing pays the bills. Creative writing is great and I had a lot of fun learning about writers of the past, but I wish I didn’t have to teach myself how to write an effective press release, create catchy web content, or build a high-converting sales letter. For the money I spent to get my university degree, I should have been rooming with Dan Kennedy for four years.
5. How to Promote Writing Services: Not only did I never learn how to find work, but I hardly even knew what kind of work I could offer. Do businesses need essays?
6. How to Write to a Targeted Reader: I never learned how to write for anybody other than my teachers. I guess in a way I did learn how to write for a target market, just not a market that could make a whole lot of money.
7. How to Build Relationships: Freelance writing only 50% about writing. The rest is about building relationships and running the business. University didn’t prepare me for the real world where I would have to knock on doors, introduce myself, and convince people that I was worth their time.
8. How to Write Killer Headlines: Did I learn how to write incredible memoirs and short stories? Absolutely. But I didn’t learn how to write headlines that pulled people into reading what I had to say, nor did I even understand the importance of a killer headline. Heck, I thought headlines were only meant for newspapers.
9. How to Write Like I Talk: As Dan Kennedy says in his book, The Ultimate Sales Letter, “schoolbook grammar is irrelevant in the sales letter…when you go to the bank to deposit all the profits your sales letter produced, nobody will ask whether you dangled a participle or split an infinitive while you were making money.” While a lot of the real-world writing is more formal, I am still having to un-train myself in order to become a better writer. I find myself cringing when I write copy that breaks the rules…but I know it’s the only way to make it work.
10. How to Use Lists: If my classmates weren’t forced to read my writing in class, they would have scanned it quickly and seen no reason to look any closer. I wasn’t taught how to write for scanners and in-depth readers alike. I guess it all boils down to the fact that I was taught how to write for books and literary magazines instead of blogs, sales letters, or websites.

I am very happy that I had the opportunity to go to university and learn what I did, but I never had a clue where to go after graduating. Like other graduated English students out there, I didn’t want to use my English degree to teach or to starve hopelessly while writing out a novel that wouldn’t be discovered for 200 years. I just wanted to have a career in writing.

While my university experience taught me a lot about the art of writing, it taught me almost nothing about making a living as a writer in the 21st century. To be honest, it failed me…

http://profreelancing.com/writing/10-things-university-didnt-teach-me-about-writing.html

Get beginning writing knowledge from these courses.

1. Introduction to Writing: Academic Prose: In this course, you’ll learn how to write for an academic audience. [Utah State University]
2. Essay and Report Writing Skills: Learn how to write assignments and reports for academic purposes in this course. [The Open University]
3. Introduction to Literature: In this introductory course, you’ll take a look at character, imagery, poetic language, and much more. [Western Kentucky University]
4. What is Good Writing?: Consider what good writing is and the importance of effective writing in this course. [The Open University]

Grammar & Language

Use these courses to perfect your writing mechanics.

1. English Grammar in Context: This course will teach you about the importance of grammar, features of speech, and more. [The Open University]
2. Language and Communications: This course covers rhetorical awareness, research, writing, and reasoning. [Western Governors University]
3. Form and Uses of Language: Here you’ll examine different ways language is used, specifically by looking at the varied works of Siegfried Sassoon. [The Open University]
4. The Syntax of Natural Language: Understand theories and technical aspects of grammar and language with this course. [University of Pennsylvania]
5. Introducing Representation: This course discusses language as a way to convey thoughts. [The Open University]

Research

Whether you’re researching for pleasure, work, or school, these courses will steer you in the right direction.

1. Intermediate Writing: Research Writing in a Persuasive Mode: In this 16-week course, you’ll learn how to use critical reading and thinking skills to create persuasive research writing. [Utah State University]
2. Advanced Writing Seminar: Designed for post-gradute students, this seminar focuses on developing research and arguments. [MIT]
3. Finding Information in Modern Languages: Here you’ll find out how to find and use information for academic research writing and beyond. [The Open University]
4. Expository Writing: Analyzing Mass Media: This course asks you to think of writing as self-discovery, critical thinking, and communicating. [MIT]
5. Research, Writing, and Oral Presentation Task: Learn how to present information, from research to writing and presenting. [Western Governors University]
6. City to City: Comparing, Researching, and Writing About Cities: Designed for city planning students, you’ll learn how to research and write, and present your ideas on two different cities. [MIT]

Creative Writing

Learn how to write poetry, challenge yourself, and even create an autobiography using these courses.

1. Writing What You Know: This course will allow you to develop your memory, observation, and senses for creative writing. [The Open University]
2. Poetry: Learn about the form and elements of poetry in this course. [College of DuPage]
3. Writing Challenges: Here you’ll be led through a series of creative writing challenges. [Warwick University]
4. The Creative Spark: Learn how to create your own creative process with this course. [MIT]
5. Expository Writing: Autobiography: This course focuses on narration, critique, argument, and persuasion in autobiographical writing. [MIT]
6. Start Writing Fiction: Delve into characters, settings, genres, and more with Start Writing Fiction. [The Open University]
7. Playwriting: Take a look at the craft of writing for the theater in this playwriting course. [MIT]
8. Introduction to Creative Writing: This course will help you develop your skills in creative writing, offering elementary skills and structures. [University of Utah]
9. Theory and Practice of Non-linear and Interactive Narrative: Learn the techniques of creating a computer-based narrative that’s both interactive and non-linear. [MIT]

Business Writing

Take these courses, and your business writing will be more professional and effective.

1. Management Communication for Undergraduates: Here you’ll develop communication skills, specfically writing, necessary for management. [MIT]
2. Advanced Managerial Communication: Learn how to write and communicate as a manager with this course. [MIT]
3. Making Decisions: This course will teach you about writing to persuade others about business decisions. [The Open University]
4. Advanced Workshop in Writing for Science and Engineering: This course focuses on technical writing like memos and journal articles. [MIT]
5. Research and Writing for Professional Programs: Learn how to conduct research and write professionally with this course. [York]

Persuasive Writing

Learn the fine art of persuasion with these courses.

1. Rhetoric: Learn about the history, theory and practice of persuasion. [MIT]
2. Rhetoric of Science: You can learn about persuasive writing in scientific knowledge in this course. [MIT]
3. Advanced Essay Workshop: You’ll get an advanced study of rhetoric and prose style techniques in this course. [MIT]
4. Expository Writing: Exploring Social and Ethical Issues Through Film and Print: Learn how to write about the social and ethical issues that you care about with this course. [MIT]
5. Rhetorical and Critical Writing Assessment: You’ll learn how to fit an audience, distinguish between fact, and fiction, and support a position. [Western Governmors University]
6. Classical Rhetoric and Modern Politics: Explore rhetoric as it relates to modern politics. [MIT]

Scientific Writing

If you’re technically skilled, but your writing could use some help, check out these courses.

1. Writing and the Environment: Learn how to create a call to action and persuade others to see your point when writing about the environment. [MIT]
2. Introduction to Technical Communication: Perspectives on Medicine and Public Health: Take a look at the writings of health practicioners to learn the basics of this sector of technical communication. [MIT]
3. Science and Engineering Writing: Take a look at technical writing and learn how the mechanics of writing for science and engineering in this course. [MIT]
4. The Science Essay: In this course, you’ll write about science and use literary tools like narrative, science, and structure. [MIT]
5. Communicating in Technical Organizations: In this course, you’ll learn how to write technical documents in a clear style. [MIT]
6. Writing About Nature and Environmental Issues: Explore nature writing and environmentalist essays in this course. [MIT]

Art & Social Writing

In these courses, you’ll learn how to write about topics in comedy, culture, and more.

1. Artistic Writing: You’ll increase your skill in reading and writing about literary text with this course. [MIT]
2. Writing About Race: In this course, you’ll learn how to write about racial issues. [MIT]
3. Becoming Digital: Writing About Media Change: Consider and write about how technology has changed the scope of media. [MIT]
4. Consumer Culture: In this course, you’ll write about shopping and consumer culture. [MIT]
5. Comedy: In this course, you’ll produce comedic writing assignments. [MIT]
6. Writing and Experience: Culture Shock! Writing, Editing, and Publishing in Cyberspace: Learn how to write for a public audience online with this course. [MIT]
7. Writing and Experience: Here you’ll write about differing social experiences. [MIT]

Supplemental Courses

Get even more out of your writing education by taking these courses.

1. Technology for Professional Writers: Get the technological skills you’ll need to succeed in the writing industry with this course. [Utah State University]
2. Text as Property/Property as Text: This class takes a look at ownership, plagiarism, and lots of other moral and legal topics in writing. [Rice]
3. Word and Image: This course discusses how visual communication can supplement writing. [The Open University]
4. Communicating in Cyberspace: This course discusses writing and communcation as it relates to the web. [MIT]

Quality Education Sites -
Term Paper Writing - Having written thousands of tem papers, now professional writers share their knowledge and wisdom with you. We know everything about term paper writing!

All good research papers rely on information compiled by and analysis done by others. If you write a research paper without consulting other works, then you have written an essay, not a report. If you do rely in part on the work of other people and you do not cite them, you have failed in your responsibilities. A research paper must cite the work of others.
There are two reasons that citations are mandatory. The first is to allow the reader to explore the subject further by consulting the works that you have utilized. Without regular and complete citations, such further exploration by your reader is difficult or impossible. Second, intellectual honesty requires citations. Failure to use them is plagiarism, which is unacceptable in any form. Plagiarism is the theft of the thoughts, facts, or knowledge of others by not giving them proper credit.

When to Cite: Follow these guidelines to protect yourself:

1. Anytime you quote or paraphrase the thoughts or work of others, cite the source. It is incorrect to believe that only quotations require citations. You should also insert a note whenever you are relying on someone else’s thoughts or research, even if you are only paraphrasing (putting it in your own words).

2. Simple, commonly known facts need not be footnoted. A rule of thumb is that if you did not know the information before you started the paper, then you should use a citation to show where you found the information. Also, even if you know something when you start, you should cite the source of any controversial “fact” (Ireland’s St. Brenden and the Vikings came to the New World before Columbus).

3. When in doubt, cite the source. Plagiarism is unethical. Instructors and other readers take it very seriously. Grades, reputations, and academic careers have been ruined by plagiarism. Err on the side of safety. One citation too many is far better than one citation too few.

How to Cite: The use of a correct format for citations used in endnotes or footnotes and in a bibliography often seem a bit complex and cumbersome, but doing so has two good points. Those advantages are completeness and consistency. Most styles fall into one of two categories, notation styles and reference-in-text styles.
Notation style involves the use of numbers to indicate each citation. Each number’s corresponding note may be at the bottom of the page as a footnote or at the end of the paper as an endnote. In either case, you should provide comprehensive information on each source the first time it appears as a footnote or an endnote, with shortened versions appearing in later footnotes or endnotes. At the end of the paper, a bibliography repeats the full documentation of these sources, listing them alphabetically by author. Bibliographies have their own formatting styles. A number of works demonstrate both citation and bibliography format styles, including A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (Turabian, 1980) and The Chicago Manual of Style (1993).
A reference-in-text style uses the author’s name and the year of publication of the work, which are placed in parentheses and inserted at the appropriate place in the text. A page number is also included for direct quotes and in some other cases. Then at the end of the paper or book there is a “References” or “Works Cited” section that contains the full documentation for all the sources cited throughout the body of the work. These sources are listed alphabetically by author. Reference-in-text styles are increasingly the norm in social science, and most are some variant of the style developed by the American Psychological Association (APA). For details of how to use such styles, see the APA’s Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (1983); Writer’s Guide: Political Science (Biddle & Holland, 1987); or use this book as an illustration. Whatever citation style you choose, use it correctly and be consistent.

Custom Essay - Are you UK student? How good are you at writing essay? Order a perfectly written custom essay from FastEssays.co.uk if writing is not your forte. We do know how to write a good assignment on any topic.

Research Papers - SameDayEssay.com provides high quality custom written research papers. Having over 1000 academic writers we are sure to be able to write a good assignment on any topic according to your instructions.
Book Reports - Essaycapital.com offers professional help with writing book reports! We have over 1000 academic writers who are always ready to assist with creating a custom written book report according to your specifications!

Resume Writing Service - GrandResume.com provides the most professional resume writing services on the web! Creating a good and impressive resume is where your career starts! Discover the art of finding your dream job!

Essay Writing Service - Bestessay4u.com is online custom essay writing company. We deliver high quality custom written essays, research papers and dissertations. No matter what is your topic or when is the deadline – with us the result is always perfect.

Buy Essay - Buy custom written essay from MasterPapers.com! We guarantee top quality essays, research papers and dissertations no matter what is the topic of your written assignment. We know how to write a good essay!

Custom Thesis - Discover the art of writing a perfect custom thesis with ma-dissertations.com! Years of experience now serve you academic needs! Finally really professional custom writing services are available to you!

Custom Essay - Valwriting.com is the right place to buy a custom written essay. Professional writers will write your paper in strict accordance to your requirements. Our custom essays are top quality papers!

Essay Writing Service - Industry leading company provides professional custom writing service! Buy custom essays, research papers, term papers and dissertations from paramountessays.com!

Coursework - Need professional assistance with writing coursework? Custom coursework writing services for UK students. We promise at least 1:2 standard. Trust us, we know how to write a good coursework.

Dissertation Writing - Looking for professional dissertation writing help or expert advice? Need a good research topic of your paper? Dissertation-service.co.uk – let us help you!